Don Juan tells Carlos, “the reason you keep on coming to see me is very simple – every time you have seen me your body has learned certain things, even against your desire. And finally your body now needs to come back to me to learn more. Let’s say that your body knows that it is going to die, even though you never think about it. So I’ve been telling your body that I too am going to die and before I do I would like to show your body certain things, things which you cannot give to your body yourself.” (Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtland, p. 216.)
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I was on the Oregon coast years ago, after picking apples in Washington State, when this book came out. Reading it, while camped along the beach and relaxing, I came upon the above quoted passage. Something powerful woke in me then, and I felt a great exultation. I ran and danced over the dunes and down to the water. My body was truly alive for the first time ever. It was celebrating. It had finally been recognized. It was all about body.

I’ve been body from that moment on. I’ve been body with a mind. I’ve stopped saying “my body.” I am no longer some entity separate from my body. I am body.

I have come to realize that those religions are dead wrong and quite destructive that preach that we should transcend body – that this life of the body is an illusion or a trial and that life after death is the only true life. They would have us deny the life we have here as bodies in favor of some sort of afterlife of the soul.

The truth is that while we are here in this life, Spirit resides in body. If we seek Spirit, we must look within to the mystery of body. All my spiritual life has been spent exploring body. This is why I was sick and almost died as a young boy, so that I might focus upon and come to appreciate body. This is why I use medicine. It centers me in body. And my body knows it is going to die. My body knows that death will come soon enough. But, for now it is alive, truly alive in a wondrous universe.